December 8th

The alarm bell blared, filling the room in the tiny flat with blaring sound. Hermione groaned, rolled over, and slammed the snooze button on her muggle alarm clock. She proceeded to roll over and put her pillow over her face. Not 10 minutes later, the alarm screamed again, and so did her Hermione.

With a huff, she shut off her alarm and sat up on the edge of her bed. Yawning, she felt the soft thud of her faithful cat, Crookshanks, as he landed on her lap. Hermione absentmindedly stroked him.

She was not looking forward to today. It was her first subcommittee meeting with Draco Malfoy. She got up (Crookshanks meowing his discontent) and went over to her dressing table. There was the note she had received earlier the previous day. When the jet black owl had arrived, she was not surprised. One of them was going to have to take the initiative and she stubbornly refused. Although now, she felt her cheeks flush with embarrassment at the thought of acting like a petulant child. She was a Ministry professional! She did not want Malfoy's first adult impression of her to be that of a spoiled brat.

Still, she reread the note. He set the meeting for today (without her consideration), making sure to point out how he had taken the liberty of booking a private boardroom for their convenience. The smarmy bastard.

Sighing, Hermione dropped the note back onto her bureau and started getting ready for the day. She pinned her hair up in an elegant French twist. She lightly dabbed blush onto her cheeks and a few swipes of mascara, followed by a pretty, neutral pink lipstick. Dressed in robes of lilac, she sat at her vanity and took in her appearance in the mirror.

Ron had once told her to try and blend in with the Wizengamot (the majority of its members, whom had reached at least eight decades of life). She remembered him saying that she would never be taken seriously if her lipstick was too dark or her skirt was too short. Hermione was sure he had meant this to be helpful, but she still remembered the feeling of disappointment that her then-fiancé's first reaction to her appointment to the court was how she would be perceived. She wanted him to be proud, and make her feel supported with the work she was going to be doing. Not concerned with the same trivial things that had plagued her adolescent experiences. She remembered his words from their fourth year after the Yule Ball. How Viktor could not possibly be interested in her for her interests and personality.

With a sad smile, Hermione opened the vanity drawer and picked up a small, black velvet box. Inside was her engagement ring. On a simple gold band was affixed a sparkling half carat round diamond. Ron never had a large fortune, and Hermione genuinely cared very little for material wealth. She loved her ring, especially how Ron had saved up to buy it after taking his position as an Auror. Still, Hermione recalled the butterflies of happiness in her stomach when he had proposed, and the feeling of wild pixies in her gut when she had broken off their engagement earlier that year.

Ron had seemed blindsided. He did not understand- how could he? Ron, who took a cut and dry position to fight the bad guys. How could he understand that she wanted to do more? To understand the more complex problems their community faced after the war? Things were not so cut and dry for her anymore. He could not understand that the life they had was no longer enough. She wanted to see more, be more, make more change.

"But I love you," he had said, voice cracking and tears in his eyes.

"I know," she had whispered quietly, trying not to break herself.

It had been after a tough work session for her bill. Lucius Malfoy, which his sardonic comments and judgmental gaze, had cut her down at the knees that day. She recalled coming home and feeling like a complete and utter failure. Why did she think she could change the world? She, who was not even born into magic, thought that she could shift a centuries old paradigm?

She remembered getting up from their small wooden, kitchen table, having made up her mind. She tried to explain to Ron all the thoughts and feelings that were welling up inside her. Tried to explain her need to do more in this life. She realized then that he would never understand past the black and white of good wizards and bad wizards. She had broken it off then and there.

Hermione recalled how, when she had gotten up from the table, Ron had launched himself up too, knocking over his tea cup and saucer. He grabbed her arm, as if she were a lifeline.

She looked up into his eyes. His brows were knitted in confusion and what she realized was panic. Tears now streamed down his face. She reached up and caressed his cheek, wiping away a tear with her thumb.

"Ron," she whispered gently, feeling her own heart start to break, "this cannot be our life together. I love you so much, but you must understand that there are things I need to do. And I need the freedom to do them. I'm sorry to hurt you, but I don't want to drag you down a road that could get messy. You didn't sign up for that." She removed his hand from her arm and kissed him on the cheek. She knew if she did not leave then that she never would.

Hermione had steered clear of anyone with the last name Weasley, and even Harry for a short while after that. It was only when Harry and Ginny showed up at her door and threatened to Bombarda it down that she finally gave in and accepted her friend's support. She had confessed to them, through sobs, that she thought they would be aggrieved by her decision to end her engagement.

Ginny, who had grown up with Ron and subsequently had detailed knowledge of his shortcomings, had laughed. She pointed out that, although she knew her brother loved Hermione very much, she also knew her friend needed to be with someone more complicated.

Hermione did not quite understand this. After all, who would want love to be complicated? Love should be like the fairies lighting up the Weasley garden at Bill and Fleur's wedding: light and dazzling and innocent. When she expressed her confusion, Ginny smirked and exchanged a knowing glance at her husband. Harry, knowing that Hermione was not ready to talk about her post-Ron future, merely shrugged and offered words of comfort.

Shaking her head out of her painful memories, Hermione put the ring back into the bureau, gave Crookshanks a quick pat, and headed off to work. She felt nervous, and had no real idea why. Draco Malfoy was hardly a school bully anymore.

No, she thought, now he's just a work bully. She smiled to herself but the reality was, Malfoy had hardly said two words to her since the bill committee began its work. It was only last week that they had engaged in a repartee. She recalled the feeling of a lead weight when he tagged into the discussion after his father.

Hermione could barely ever bring herself to look at Lucius Malfoy. Whether because of the events that had transpired in his home during the war, or because he still appeared to her as the dark and imposing figure who entered Flourish and Blott's right before her second year, she did not know. She felt childish for feeling this way, but still she tried her best to focus on their colleagues during debate. When Draco had jumped in, Hermione could not stop herself from glancing at him.

Malfoy was still tall, blonde, and pale. He was also, Hermione noticed, rather well-toned in physique. She wondered if he was still playing Quidditch? Even under his forest green robes, she could see his chest heaving as he made his argument against her. His, which was usually slicked into place, had fallen somewhat into his eye as he spoke to the court. When he spoke her name to respond, it was all Hermione could do to snap out of the train of thought she was going down.

And then Arthur had assigned them to a subcommittee of two. Was this his punishment for her breaking things off with his son? No, of course not. Arthur Weasley did not have a vengeful bone in his body. In fact, he still made sure to check in on her too, whether to offer a kind word after a session, or stop by her office with some of her favorite meals that Molly used to make her. Still, she could not seem to reason why Arthur had suggested this meetup when Hermione felt in every fiber of her being that it was futile. The Malfoys, and their like, would never see how beneficial this legislature would be. All they thought about was how it would impact them. She scoffed at the idea.

Soon, Hermione glanced at her office clock, which read 5 pm. She wrapped up her affairs at her desk and headed to the atrium. She felt another jolt in her stomach. Why in Merlin's flowered garden did she feel so nervous? She had stood up to Malfoy plenty of times at school. They were both adults now. She was hardly about to enter into a duel with him (well, not literally, anyway).

As she walked to the lifts through the atrium, she admired the Christmas décor, but felt the fresh sting of loneliness hit her once again. A few weeks after the breakup, Ron had asked Hermione to meet him at the Leaky Cauldron to talk. After they spent the better part of the evening coming to some manner of closure, they had agreed that they would remain friends, but still give each other space for the foreseeable time to grieve. Hermione had felt lighter, but a lingering sense of uncertainty filled her from time to time thereafter. She was unsure if Ron really was ready to close that chapter on their relationship.

All that to say, it would be the first Christmas in a long while that Hermione would not be spending with the Weasley family. When Harry had offered for him and Ginny to stop by on Christmas day, Hermione had declined. While she appreciated the offer, she told them that she had loads of unread books waiting for her, and that she would be tremendously busy with work.

The truth was, Hermione felt that, deep down, she did not deserve their kindness. She had already ended one relationship so she could seek out some higher purpose (that had yet to become clear to her). She did not want to risk losing her other friends to her new cause.

She rode in the lift and groaned as it came to a stop. She stepped out and walked along the chilly corridor. Hermione paused outside the door to the boardroom. She heard the rifling of papers and surmised that Malfoy was already inside. She tucked a stray curl behind her ear and took a deep breath.

She was going to find her purpose. She was almost certain this bill was the key to her making big changes in the world. She just needed to overcome the teensy-tiny obstacle that was Draco Malfoy.

With that, she raised her chin confidently and pushed open the door.