Be A Good Girl
“I’m not getting into bed with you and your dodgy friends, Malfoy.” Hermione replied, crossing her arms and leaning back in her chair. He immediately mirrored her, and she resisted the urge to roll her eyes.
“Funnily enough, I wasn’t actually suggesting an orgy.” He drawled, and that time, she fully embraced her eye roll.Â
“You are aware of the expression, there’s no need to be crass. I am sure that you could open any number of backroom doors in any number of dingy, dank alleyways, but I do not wish to get into any sort of deal with you or any of your people. There will never come a time when I owe you anything. I won’t be another Minister in the pocket of some secret society, and I certainly won’t be your puppet.” She snapped, and he hummed, nodding slightly.
“Your commitment to righteousness is admirable, I suppose, Granger, but you will come to learn, sooner rather than later, that integrity has no place in the Minister’s office. You have to play the game by the established rules, bend your morals to get ahead. You’re the only female candidate, everyone is assuming you’re too soft for this. If you don’t play a little dirty, there will be some tedious bloke sitting in your chair instead. When you realise that you do need my help, you know where to find me.” He stood abruptly, tossed his business card at her, and left the room without another word.
“Arrogant prat.” She muttered, even as she placed the card in the top drawer of her desk. She would not use it, but something stopped her from throwing it away altogether. She huffed, slammed the drawer closed, and got back to the mountain of paperwork she had to get through.Â
Â
Running for Minister had always been Hermione’s plan. She wanted to affect real change, to fix what had been broken for so many years. Her rise through the Ministry had been fast, that much was true, but it wasn’t because of her name alone. Hermione had worked damn hard. She was the youngest head of the DIMC in history, the first woman to hold the position, not to mention the first muggleborn, and she had a reputation for ruthless efficiency.
It was that reputation that had attracted Malfoy. He ran a PR firm with his merry band of snakes, but everyone knew it was more than that. He had fingers in every pie imaginable. If somebody had even a smidgen of influence or power, Malfoy had dirt on them. He traded in secrets, and that was why Hermione was hesitant to take him up on his offer. She didn’t want to get in as Minister because of him. As she’d told him, she didn’t want to owe him anything.Â
Â
She wasn’t naive, though, and a part of her knew that she wouldn’t get to the Minister’s office by being a good girl. Perhaps that was why she didn’t throw away the card.