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It's Monday morning. I wake early at seven o'clock, finding the alarm clock that's ringing before shoving it from the desk and curling back under the covers. they are so warm and comfy that I can't help it. It really is one of those mornings. The next time that I burrow my way back out into the world is at eight forty two and I have to complete my whole morning routine in fifteen minutes, using the remaining three to jump into the green flames and floo into the office.
I take the stairs two at a time and make my way onto Draco's floor, my heels clicking on the wooden flooring as I walk. "Good morning, Malfoy." I poke my head into his office and smile at him from the doorway. He doesn't beckon me in.
He looks up from his work, flipping his hair out of his eyes with his fingers and smirking at me. "Morning, Granger."
I walk into the office and sit at his desk. The air between us is less tense than it has ever been which means that I can finally relax comfortably into the high backed chairs.
Draco smiles up at me, "Didn't you get my owl about your new floor?" He watches me with those depthless grey eyes, "It had all the arrangements."
"I did." I say, crossing one knee over the other and linking my foot behind my calf, "But I just wanted to make super sure that the off still stands."
He looks back down at his paper, as if he has already dismissed me and then he speaks, "It does." The words are not harsh, but they are indifferent. Like I'm boring him.
"And," I continue as if he had never spoken, "I wanted to tell you that from here on out, I get to veto any photo's of myself that I do not like. I saw the daily prophet!"
Eyes flicking back up to meet my gaze, I have to say he looks a little hurt. "You didn't like my article?" He asks.
"The article was fine." And it was. It was actually quite a good read, and even though most of the words were lifted straight from the mouth of Hermione Jean Granger, I was quite impressed – I really do have a way with words, if I do say so myself! – with how easily he could make himself seem selfless.
Correct me if I am wrong, and I am pretty sure that I am not, but his desire to do something for the good of the world seemed to materialise out of thin air after I suggested – of screamed – that he was a bit of a selfish bastard.
"I thought it was a nice picture." He says shrugging and continuing to write something on the pages in front of himself.
I throw the issue in question of the daily prophet down on the table in front of him and tap the front page picture. 'I thought it was a nice photo.' is staring up at us and we both look down at it.
Malfoy and Granger Put Differences Aside To Help Others- By Reeta Skeeter (Voted Best Gossip Columnist for the last five years)
Malfoy Inc. To Take New Company To New Heights With Aid Of Popular War Hero Hermione Granger.
The Malfoy-Granger team recently formed when Draco Malfoy – Voted most eligible bachelor by popular magazine Witch Weekly and winner of Witch Weekly's most charming smile award – bought over an old, run down company where the Hermione Granger was working.
After deciding he was sick of keeping all that money in his vaults – he's rich too, ladies – he came up with the idea of helping out the Wizarding World. He decided to hire on Ms. Granger as the manager of this little project and, with her aid, is to create a sanctuary for any person or magical creature in need. Just Isn't he Merlin's gift to the world, Ladies?
On top of that lovely, inaccurate article announcing the details of our project, is a photo segment that is divided into two.
On one side there is a photo of Draco Malfoy. It is clear to see why people think he is such a stunner with this photo. His smile would make your knees go weak and the way he flips his hair makes your heart jump into your throat.
On the other side, though, there is a picture of what could be me, or it could be Nanny Mcphee, before the transformation, for how flattering it is. And I think I'm in my pyjamas.
"Oh yes it is almost as good as my photo on the company file and we both know the kind of impression that that photo makes!" I uncross and then re-cross my legs with the opposite knee on top, "And I seem to recall you not being able to stop laughing!"
"I'll check with you before any more pictures are published."
"Good!"
"Anything else?" he's not looking at me anymore, instead he is fingering a quill and tracing lines on the paper with his fingertip; reading.
"No." I say, shaking my head and I can tell he has something else he wants to say so I wait.
He looks back up, "Granger..." He pauses, rubs a hand through his dishevelled, platinum locks and looks over my shoulder to the open door beyond. "Sixth floor is all yours. Your new team will be waiting up there."
"Ok."
"I'll see you back here at twelve thirty for a progress report." He tells me as I walk towards the door, I stop and stare at him. Slightly disbelieving if I am honest.
"How much do you expect from me in four hours?" I ask, my eyebrows inching up my face and knowing before he even answers that working here is going to be what puts me into an early grave.
He doesn't look at me as he talks, "I expect miracles Granger."
"I'm sorry to disappoint, Malfoy," I mutter under my breath as I let the door shut softly behind myself on my way out into the corridor, "But, I'm fresh out of miracles. Actually, I've been out of them for a while!"
Heart pounding I make my way to the row of lifts at the end of the marble corridor. I make my way into the first lift that arrives and use a shaky finger to press the gold rimmed button that houses the number 6. He magically added a new floor to the building. The number is the only one on the panel that shines in gold and has never been there before.
Shaking and shuddering the lift jerks into motion and I find myself moving with it, right into the grate on the opposite side. I'm pretty sure that I have the criss-cross pattern stamped onto my cheek.
I exit the lift after I have taken a few seconds to steel myself and make sure I am ready for whatever Theo can throw at me, (the others I am not worried about at all, Kevin is my friend and Pansy has expressed the desire to turn over a new leaf, but Theo... Oh Theo always has something snarky to say!)
It's an open plan floor. Honestly, I can't believe that he even bothered to get something together that is so nice for me. The floors are white marble – the kind with the black shards shuffled among the stones – and the back wall is all glass. Any dividers are clear glass with blinds on them and there are marble pillars standing every few meters or so to signal a new 'room'. "Wow." I whisper. I've walked a fair way into the floor by now and start to survey the other sections.
"I know." I turn and see Pansy, Theo and Kevin standing behind me in what looks like he kitchen. The cabinets are decked out in black marble and there is a little green snake curling around the letters 'DM' that stands in the top right corner of the island. I walk over and run my fingers over it, laughing quietly to myself as I do so.
The snake moves as I touch it and I jump back; frightened. But then I realise that it seems to only be moving its head to 'nuzzle' (well, as far as an inanimate, 2D image can) my fingers. I stroke it gently. "Can you believe that he has done all of this?" Pansy is asking, but I am only vaguely aware. I'm still trying to comprehend everything in my head. "Thanks for all this." She says and I laugh.
"This," I say, gesturing around at the amazing room and then bringing my hands back down to run my hands along the granite counter tops, "Is all Draco Malfoy."
Pansy is still babbling. "This is so much nice than the crappy office I got before!" She's walking around and surveying all the different 'offices'. I say 'offices' because there aren't really any dividers, or doors, just desks and a lot of space. "I guess Hermione get's first pick, but I get second!"
"That's so not fair!" Theo starts striding after her, looking at all the desks and deciding which his favourite is, so that he can claim it first. They both rush around arguing and I watch them, laughing behind my hand so as to not be openly laughing at their immaturity.
Kevin inches up behind me, I hear him coming but I still jump when I feel his breath on my cheek, "You really struck gold here, Granger." He says and then he moves away from me to get his hand into the situation of who gets first choice on desk.
"What did you think of your offices?" He asks at twelve thirty on the dot, as I pull a paper carton of the noodles towards myself - from the tray of Chinese food that he tells me ha had to venture all the way into Muggle London to buy - and pull my chopsticks apart.
"Malfoy, you have really out done yourself." I say, smiling at him over my food and then laughing as I watch him try to pull apart his wooden chopsticks and snap one accidentally. "Maybe you should use a fork." I suggest and he nods, using his want to transfigure the unsnapped stick into a metal fork.
"They really are amazing." I tell him.
"I'm glad you like them." He looks down and then flicks his eyes back up to meet mine. "I thought you would prefer the spacious look."
"You're amazing," I notice my slip before I even say it and rush to correct myself, "It's amazing."
"You think I'm amazing." Yep, I will never hear the end of this one.
After my unnaturally pleasant lunch with Draco Malfoy, I make my way back up to the offices. I look over the site that Malfoy has given me to build on. There are documents containing planning permission from the Minister of Magic and a large white sheets with the grass plane drawn in. There is one for every angle and they are sitting on my planning boards in an office of their own - located in the centre of all the offices joining them together - waiting for me to run my wand over them and make up the first set of designs for the building.
Theo and Kevin are meeting with Architects to help look over our final design to make sure that it is safe, and Pansy has decided to take all of the publicity into her own hands - thank Merlin because I honestly don't think I could ever do it - so she is off somewhere creating dates and getting photo's of the original site to compare our progress with after we have started.
I'm stuck in the office alone, running numbers and trying to come up with an accurate time frame and a list of all the different types of workforces that we are going to need to complete this.
At around four, I make my way to the kitchen and glance towards the snake curling around the Malfoy heir's initials as I move to the fridge to find a bottle of water.
They are everywhere. The initials and the snake. All in green and all there to make sure that I don't forget who runs things. I found my desk pretty quickly. It was the only one with a DM snake, but it also had a little yellow orange lion cub biting her teeth into a 'HG' in the opposite corner, her tail flicking and curling around the letters. Every so often one of them would stray into the other's territory and there would be a little scuffling and a puffy orange and green ball as they tumbled around, and then all would go back to normal. I know why he chose a little lion cub...and I also know that it made me smile.
That night I make my way back to the burrow as I want to speak to Sirius - though he doesn't live there, he can always almost be found there. I think he likes the company. Kreacher - ancient as he is - always escorts him and busies himself with the cleaning at the burrow for the duration of their stay. Molly loves Kreacher and he is nicer than ever now that he has a little company and can escape the darkness of Grimauld Place.
I apparate outside and knock on the door. Molly opens the door, ushering me inside and handing me a mug of tea as soon as I enter the kitchen. Sirius is sitting there and promptly gets up and makes his way into the living room as soon as I enter, which is something that hurts me a little. Though I brush it off as stress.
After finding out from her mother that I was here, Ginny rushes over and brings Luna with her straight from work at the ministry, and soon the house is in full party mode. Molly is cooking everyone is laughing and having a good time. Fred and George are moping around the kitchen and dipping their fingers into boiling pots – though as if the scolding is not enough, they also get a wallop on the head by Mrs. Weasley who is wielding a wooden spoon – and Sirius is always on the far side of the room to be.
He keeps glancing in my direction and moving on when he sees me approaching.
Dinner passes without a hitch, conversations flows freely and everyone is having a great time.
I keep true to Sirius' request and refrain from telling anyone, he doesn't seem to be voluntarily giving away the information either and he keeps avoiding me so I can't ask him if it went alright.
"SIRIUS!" I yell at him as he is making his way out of the back door of the burrow and into the back garden after dinner has come to a close. The gnomes have been wreaking havoc again in the Weasley garden and I almost step on one in my haste to catch the dark haired wizard speed walking away from me.
I start running when I see that he is throwing his leg over the motorbike that Hagrid gave back to him after the war – it runs nicer now after I put that spell on the engine to make it smoother – and when I make it I hop onto the back (the removal of the side seat may have been a bad idea) and scream in his ear until he turns off the engine and drops the bike back down two feet to the ground. "What do you want, GRANGER!" He yells over the roar of the bike, "All I want is to go and drink myself into an oblivion, but you have to try and stop me!"
"It didn't go well did it?" I ask and he looks at the ground, even in the dark I can see the embarrassment in his eyes.
"Granger," He speaks softly now that the noise has gone and he kicks at the ground with one of his back army boots. He's wearing all black; he looks like a bad boy. "I wouldn't know. I haven't spoken to her."
My eyes widen and I slap one of my hands into his chest – it just rebounds and must have feel like a fly hitting into him, but I think that the message is clear. "Sirius!" I shove him back until he is sitting on the bike so that my shorter frame can seem a little more intimidating and I summon my inner McGonagall and Molly Weasley. The mix that I come out with seems to put a little fear in his eyes and this gives me a feeling of satisfaction that rumbles deep in my belly. "Think about this poor woman!" My index finger is shoved into his chest and stabs him with every word, "How do you think she's feeling!"
I cut him off before he can even open his mouth, "I'll tell you how she's feeling! Scared! Like you are. Hurt that the father of her child knows she's having a baby and hasn't tried to find her! And probably worrying about what people are going to think of her!" I stamp my foot on the ground and tap his head with my fist, "What if she decides to get rid of it, how will you feel then, Sirius?" My voice is harsh and I try to correct it before it comes out but I can. He swallows and sighs.
I hope you enjoyed, and please review! :)