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It is nine o'clock in the morning. A morning that I used to be at work. But I'm not. I'm at home on the couch. With Parsley. At least he's happy. He's purring like it's Christmas and I am crying like...well...like my cat died. Not over my job, though. There was a really sad film on the TV, so yep...not because of the job...not because of the job. Ok, maybe a little bit about the job. No money coming in. I have to start looking for a job.
I have to start looking for a job. And I am sitting here on the couch. I should probably get moving. Nah, the movie is extremely addictive so I think I'm just going to wait until it's finished... or maybe the next two are finished. I don't know what my issue is, I think I'm just seriously depressed and can't be arsed to get moving. But, my rent is due next week and though I have money in the bank, I know that it is not going to last forever; therefore this is the reason that I move my butt. Actually, the prospect of going without Sky TV has my arse moving faster that a Weasley's Wizarding Wheezes Firework.
So this is where Lupin finds me. Heaving myself ungraciously from the couch, slipping my fluffy slippers on to my feet and trying to continue watching the end of the film all at once... therefore the ending result is not pretty and not suitable for viewing ... but Lupin doesn't seem to notice my little debacle with the slipper that won't fit on my foot and instead just pops his head through the Floo and yells my name to gain my attention.
I used to think that having a floo in my house would result in a lack of privacy and then I found out that you could turn it on and off. Maybe I should start keeping it off a little more. "Hermione!" I look up after finally managing to get the slipper onto my foot – I'm pretty sure that it is my tiredness and my foot hasn't miraculously grown four sizes in the space of an hour – and I see his thinly haired head poking into my living room. I have to admit that I have never really gotten used to the idea of heads poking in and out of houses that are more than several miles apart. I don't really understand how it works and therefore I will not be trying it any time soon, but it was a nice surprise to see Lupin and the smile he wore made me feel even better.
"Lupin," I walk nearer to the fire place and sit down on a lumpy, burgundy footstool (which I really have to change because it definitely doesn't match the rest of the furniture in the room), Lupin's eyes following me the whole time. "What can I do for you?"
"I have a Job interview for you."
He sits there, mouth pulled into a smile like he's waiting for me to jump around singing. I almost do, but I manage to stop myself before I get to that point and instead I rush closer to the fire and say. "Really?"
He nods, his hair flipping into his eyes and a hand magically appearing in the flames to push it away. "Yeah, I was working with this contractor this morning and they asked if I knew anyone who would be good for this position and I thought of you." I laugh, not believing my luck.
"You did?" I question, just to make sure that I actually heard him properly. Then I pinch myself to make sure that I am really conscious and not having a cruel dream that I am about to wake up from. "Really?"
"Yes, Hermione." He nods and after telling me all the details, retracts his head from my fireplace with a pop. The green flames die down and it would be like he was never here, but I still have the funny feeling of satisfaction and gratefulness floating around in my stomach.
I squish my body into a size twelve dress that I bought last Christmas in hope that my diet would work, though considering the effort that I have invested in my diet – namely none – I am overjoyed that I even managed to get the zip closed, let alone fit the tight beige dress over my curves.
"Urg!" I grunt as I finally manage to close the back – admittedly I can't really breathe, but I am willing to forgo all sense of reason if I manage to look amazing; furthermore, I am also going to pray through the heavens in hope that I don't drop anything and have to bend over. My blazer follows the dress. Thankfully, this item of clothing fits me a little more adequately so it slips on rather easily.
The entire ensemble mashes together to give a quite a pleasant look and I decide that it is probably for the best if I try and tame the bush on my head for once. The cupboard over the bathroom sink holds my rarely used – ok, never used – Sleakzies Hair Tamer; an unopened purple container, cylindrical in shape with a golden lid. I prize the lid open and it gives a slight, satisfying 'pop', the green gunk inside (looking somewhat like troll bogey) is rather less satisfying. So much so, in fact, that it almost puts me off spreading in through my hair.
Curls still wet from the shower I took not thirty minutes ago, I spread the product onto my fingers – it feels rather like Troll snot too! – and then I run it through my hair.
The effect is almost instantaneous. There is a purple, fizzing sparkle that dances a circle around my hair and then vanishes with a slight sizzle. I watch the entire process in the mirror, gasping as I watch my hair go from fizzy garden bush to soft mermaid curls in the space of ten seconds. I grab hold of the purple tub and stare at it in awe. I really should start trusting Ginny's instinct more.
My journey to the company is relatively short. I catch a bus and then walk for a grand total of twenty seconds; though my feet were protesting already due to the heels that I decided to stuff my feet into. However, a quick cushioning charm on the balls of my feet got rid of the worst of it.
"Thank you," I smile to the twenty something bus driver sitting behind the glass window as I make my way off the 33 and into the tarred over street, almost falling as I nearly miss the six inch step from the street to the pavement.
"You alright love?" Someone grabs hold of my arm and I look up into a pair of startlingly blue eyes connected to a chiselled face and an even more impressive body. I retract my arm from his grip and move away, flattening out my skirt and patting my hair self consciously.
I smile towards him, lifting my bag onto my shoulder and nodding vaguely in his direction, too embarrassed to say a word. Moving further away, he turns from my and once again I am alone on the street. Mulling over my life and this new job opportunity.
Getting into the building is a bit m ore of a struggle. There are these turnstile things that need a swipe ID card – which I don't have – so I have to wander aimlessly around until I find a man who can point me in the direction of Admin. Then I have to introduce myself to the curly haired woman behind the cherry desk; who nods and smiles before turning to the computer sitting in front of her. They have computers here. I'm pretty sure that this is a first for the Wizarding World.
"Hermione Granger. 5th floor. Wait outside the office please." As she speaks I watch her mouth move. She has over glossed her lips so much that it looks more like she has overglooped.
They stick together and pull apart like they are covered in strawberry pink chewing gum, she wears a matching v-neck cashmere jumper – I have seen the salary, it must be cashmere! – and the shortest skirt I have ever seen (Also a violent shade of pink.) It is an overload for my eyes and I find myself having to blink way more than normal when I turn my gaze to her. Or maybe that could just be the complete horrendousness of the outfit.
"Follow me." She is already half way down the corridor and I have to jog – teetering in my heels the whole way – to keep her in sight before she starts turning corners. I walk in her shadow until we reach the fifth floor. It's a long way! "Wait here."
The second the door opens I feel faint. Like the 'this can't be happening... my life sucks... warn the devil because hell has finally frozen over' kind of faint.
"How...How can you be here?" I start to curse Lupin in my mind; nothing ever goes right for me, does it?! I'm led into a large office by a pale, tall, muscular, blond haired man. You are getting the point here, right?
He flicks his blond hair out of his eyes and looks down at the file in front of me. "This is my company as well." He smiles and then flicks through my folder looking at my CV. I watch his eyebrows as they fly up his forehead.
"I'm sorry to have bothered you Mr. Malfoy. I realise that this was a mistake now and I will take my leave. I hope that you find the person who you are looking for."
I'm already halfway to the door when he speaks, his voice is gravelly and it sounds like it takes a really effort to force out. "You were right." I almost choke on the air that I pull into my lungs and then I fall into the door.
I know. So much for a dignified exit. I find myself clutching my forehead and falling backwards through the air towards the ground. I swear that the door came out of NOWHERE! It just appeared!
He's out of his chair before I can even start falling though and his hands clamp around my waist to keep my body away from the floor. "Thanks." I say and I push him away from my body.
"You look good, Granger." He winks and escorts me back to my seat. I sit there in shock, mouth hanging open like a dog until I regain my senses that I should never have lost in the first place. Come On, Hermione Granger!
"What-?" I admit it is not the best, sassiest or even smartest thing that I could possible have said, but it is the first thing that pops into my mind... and out it flew. Now, I can think of several things that would have been better suited to the situation. For example... "I hardly think that is appropriate." or "I won't stand for this sort of behaviour, Mr. Malfoy." or even "Shut up!" but these phases were not the first thing into my mind and therefore I guess that I have to stick with, "What-?"
"I said-" I don't let him finish though. Now that my normal snarkiness has returned and I am not at a loss for what to say, I decide that I had better retort now or forever hold my silence... and I am not the greatest at holding my tongue. "When you talk to me like that, it doesn't make me feel good, Malfoy." I tell him, looking at him in the eyes and holding his gaze firmly.
"Alright," He sighs, "I apologise Granger."
"Hermione." I reply.
"If you still want to work for me after this, Granger, You may have your old job back." I look at him - I have to admit here, that my eyes may have teared up a little. "I have decided to move in a new direction with the company. Your idea really, though I am going to take the credit." He laughs and I join in. He wouldn't be Draco Malfoy if he didn't take credit for things he didn't achieve. "I have decided on a new direction. A direction that will help people and magical creatures instead of just benefiting from them. Though, I can't be completely selfless, I still have to make money."
I nod and look to the ground, my cheeks tingeing red once more and without my hair to hide behind I feel exposed.
I guess I might as well push my luck a little here. "I have another idea that will boost publicity for your company and will help gain more attention over the idea that you are going to bring into your company, if you are interested."
He smirks at me; I indulge myself and imagine that he is flashing me a rare smile instead of a smirk. "Shoot Granger."
Steeling myself, I nod, my hair flipping into my eyes and I have to use my hand to push it out. "Well, as you know I used to work in the Department of Magical Creatures and their Welfare at the Ministry of Magic, but then I quit."
"Just like you quit my job." He says it like a fact. Not like he is angry or annoyed with me. Just a statement of what happened.
"Anyway." I decide to continue but I was stupid to think I could make it through an entire sentence without an interruption from Malfoy, but I hold my tongue and listen to his question.
"Why did you quit?"
"From your company?" I ask, my eyebrows raising; I fear that they will recede so far into my hairline that I will never find them again! "I think you know they reason Malfoy." I hiss, I'm about to stand and walk out (I seem to have been doing this quite regularly over the past few days, maybe I should try to stick around a little more!)
"At your other company." He speaks with a monotone, I sink back into my seat. I can feel my face burning bright red like an LED light, but I breathe deeply before continuing and I begin to feel the heat cooling off from my inflamed cheeks.
"What we were doing was always being looked over and I got too little money to make a difference myself. I mean, I got quite a sum from the Merlin First Class award for my help in the War and I got a house from that as well so I didn't have worry about housing costs, but I didn't have enough to live on and make a difference with."
I stop talking and Malfoy looks over his interlaced fingers at me, "So you decided that the best thing to do would be to find a job with more money and save enough money to go ahead with whatever harebrained project you were planning?"
"It's not a harebrained project!" I say indignantly, "This is something that is really important to me and if you are just going to poke fun then–"
I don't get the chance to finish my sentence because he is back to the idea of cutting me off. I have high suspicions that he does it to give himself the feeling of importance because I can't get mad at him without the prospect of having NO MONEY getting hung over my head. Every second in his time is like being on one of those carnival games where you don't know if the person throwing the ball will hit the little metal square that will send you plunging into the ice cold water below. I think it's called a dunk tank, but I'm not entirely sure. Anyway, Draco Malfoy is effectively determining if the ball hits the metal disk. "Swallow your pride Granger."
I am starting to believe that this is all some twisted joke? Maybe it's one of those TV shows. But Malfoy wouldn't know what a TV show was. Then again, he did have computers in his Lobby and there is one sitting right on his desk. Or maybe this is some sort of Karma for something bad that I have done. I did tell Ginny she looked ugly in that dress the other weekend. And I did suggest that Sirius needed to grow up a few weeks back. Maybe this is some sort of lesson to tell me that I am being too mean to them! But Ginny tells me I look ugly all the time and Sirius knows that he needs to grow up! Either way, if this is a lesson, I have learn so let me get back to my DRACO MALFOY FREE LIFE!
"Well, if you would just let me finish!" I spit and then rethink my aggressive posture and I shrink back into my chair so as not to give him any more excuses when I am on such a small rope in the first place. "You remember S.P.E.W, right?"
"I thought it was 'spew'."
"Oh shut up." I laugh and throw a pen from the table at him jokingly. He smiles properly for once and I almost bring it to his attention, but they are so rare and shy that I don't want to scare the pleasant facial expression away. "I started S.P.E.W, the organisation to free house elfs that didn't want to be free, and you joined the inquisitorial squad a year later. Personally, I believe that if one of us had bad judgement it was you!" I decide not to mention the Bad Judgement Elephant in the room and let it slip by.
I continue talking after I catch the pen that he throws back at me. "Anyway, I finally realised that house elves don't want help, but there are other magical beings that do need help."
"And you want to help them?"
"By opening a sanctuary where they can–"
He holds up a hand to stop me speaking and I am so sure that I am going to be fired that I am already out of my seat and half way to the door by the time he starts speaking, "Sit back down, Granger." I flush, feeling the heat tickle my hairline, and then make my way back to the seat, "I like your idea." He pulls out a new piece of paper and starts writing on it.
"How much will you need? I know, I'll stick a few million galleons in a vault and give you an access card, if you need more you can come and ask. The only things that I am going to need are the details and all the opening information. The whole thing is going to be covered by the Daily Prophet so you have to make sure that everything is camera friendly and I'll let you choose a team from the office. I'll give you a new floor and hire on new people to take your spaces until the project is complete."
He summons an owl and attaches a note telling me that it is going to deliver the letter to Gringotts that will make all the monetary arrangements. "You have a year before I step in and take over, though all arrangements will be passed through me before you give them the go ahead."
I stand, "Hold on Malfoy." I can tell through feeling that my eyes are stretched wide and I try to regain control over them in the few seconds I have before I start talking once more, "Everything is going so fast, you are just going to give me millions of galleons to go ahead and create something that I just told you about today?" My tone is disbelieving and I can't help but feel that it is a joke as he starts to laugh.
It's a masculine sound that doesn't seem to fit with him. Not that he isn't masculine, but the idea of him laughing properly is just odd in general. "Granger, I wouldn't even notice if someone took that money from my account." He smiles and I realise that he is back to the cocky smirk that makes me want to slap him. It's this kind of derogatory smirk that just makes me feel stupid even though I asked a totally normal question. "If it makes you feel any better, it's not coming from my personal vault. It's coming from the business one."
I don't know what to say, "I will take your silence as acceptance and I'm going to need the names of the people you are choosing."
"Theo, Pansy and Kevin." I say and he nods.
"I'm expecting this to run smoothly with you in charge Granger, or is this a mistake?"
I shake my head, "No sir."
I start towards the door after he waves his hand to dismiss me, "Oh and Malfoy." He looks up from his desk. "Thanks for seeing me, I know Lupin asked you to."
"No problem Granger." I nod curtly and walk out.
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